Swauger Creek

Suggested Flies for Swauger Creek and West Walker River:
Eastern Sierra Hatch Selection

Nymphs:
Pheasant Tail Nymph #16-20
Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear #14-16
Bird's Nest #14-16
A.P. Nymph #12-14

Midge Flies:
Copper John, #16
Zebra Midge, #16
Serendipity, #18

Directions:

West Walker River: From Hwy 395, north of Bridgeport, access along roadside is available north of Sonora Junction.

Swauger Creek: From Hwy 395, south of Sonora Junction, access along roadside. Private residences along Swauger Creek road, restricted access.

Notes:
The West Walker River along Hwy 395 gets over 60,000 rainbows and brookies planted each year. It experiences high flow from the Spring snowmelt but clears up by late June. Many of the fish are planted near the campgrounds. There is little cover so fishing is better during the late afternoon or evening hours.

Swauger Creek will have Rainbows, Brookies, and Browns. It is planted with rainbows in late April but the creek tends to be to thin for additional plants past late July. The stream will have riffles and pools with little tree cover and brushy banks along the Hwy 395 section.

Lobdell Lake sits at 9,247 feet. It once had the distinction of holding Arctic Graylings. According to Jim Matthews, "The story about how grayling came to Lobdell actually begins in 1903, when the first stocks of grayling were made into California’s high mountain waters. The fish and game department tried again from 1924 to 1930, but there was only one place out of dozens of waters where the fish were even moderately successful, and that was Grayling Lake in Yosemite National Park. But even there, the grayling fishery eventually died out. The most recent attempts to stock grayling were in 1969 and 1970, when 26 waters high in the Sierra were planted with fish reared from eggs obtained from Arizona. The fish that spawned those eggs were native Montana stock. Again, the stockings mostly met with failure – with one glowing exception – Lobdell Lake and one of its tributary streams, Desert Creek. The high, exposed reservoir looked and felt almost arctic, and the fish prospered.
Lobdell also was known for its huge brook trout in the late 1950s and 60s. Brookies up to 6-7 lbs were known to exist in the lake but, today, are much smaller due to a limited amount of available food.

Fishing Regulations (Effective March 1st, 2021)

West Walker River:

From the last Saturday in April through November 15, 5 trout daily bag limit, 10 trout in possession; and, from November 16 through the Friday preceding the last Saturday in April, 0 trout bag limit, artificial lures with barbless hooks only and trout must be released unharmed and not removed from the water.

Swauger Creek and all other Streams:

From the last Saturday in April through November 15, 5 trout daily bag limit, 10 trout in possession; and, from November 16 through the Friday preceding the last Saturday in April, 0 trout bag limit, artificial lures with barbless hooks only and trout must be released unharmed and not removed from the water.